Ghana, South Africa to discover World Cup play-off opponents on August 20

Ghana and South Africa will discover their opponents in the preliminary phase of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 Play-Off Tournament when the draw is held in Zurich on Thursday, August 20.

The draw will take place at the Home of FIFA at 14:00 local time (CEST) and will determine how the six qualified teams are arranged for the preliminary phase, which is scheduled for the international window between November 24 and December 5, 2026.

Ghana and South Africa secured their places in the play-off tournament after winning their respective WAFCON play-in matches on Thursday.

The Black Queens defeated Côte d’Ivoire 2-1 in Casablanca, coming from behind after Ines Konan’s early penalty to qualify for another route to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

South Africa also produced a 2-1 victory over Nigeria to eliminate the defending WAFCON champions and secure their place in the global play-off tournament.

Ghana placed in Pot 3

The six teams involved in the preliminary phase are Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan from the Asian Football Confederation, Ghana and South Africa from Africa, Ecuador from South America and Papua New Guinea from Oceania.

Based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Ranking published on June 16, the teams have been divided into three pots.

Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan are in Pot 1, South Africa and Papua New Guinea are in Pot 2, while Ghana and Ecuador make up Pot 3.

The draw will begin with Pot 1, followed by Pot 2 and Pot 3. Teams from the same confederation cannot be drawn against each other, meaning Ghana and South Africa will avoid a meeting in the preliminary phase.

The six teams will ultimately be assigned to nine pre-defined fixtures, with each side playing three matches.

Two teams to advance

The preliminary phase will produce two teams who will advance to the final phase of the play-off tournament.

Those two qualifiers will join four teams that receive direct entry into the final phase — two from Concacaf, one from UEFA and Venezuela from CONMEBOL.

The final phase will be played between February 23 and March 6, 2027, with the six teams divided into three paths. The winners of those three paths will secure the final three places at the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

Ghana will therefore need to navigate another demanding qualification stage after missing out on automatic qualification at WAFCON 2026.

The Black Queens lost 2-1 to Malawi in the quarter-finals, ending their hopes of reaching the semi-finals, before recovering to defeat Côte d’Ivoire in the play-in.

South Africa, meanwhile, eliminated Nigeria to remain on course for a third consecutive appearance at the Women’s World Cup.

The 2027 tournament will be held in Brazil from June 24 to July 25 across eight host cities.